14,500 square metres, roughly 9,600 individually cut panels and not a single reflection to break up the form: for BMW Welt in Munich, Coop Himmelb(l)au chose a velvet matt surface over a reflective one. At this scale, bead blasted stainless steel is above all a question of process control, because on a calm plane any deviation in gloss level shows immediately. Executed in Nimbus Edge Pure, bead blasted and without colouring, in 3.0 mm on a form-giving steel substructure, with a diagonal joint pattern and perforated in parts. Facade and interior completed in 2006.

Copyrights: INOX-COLOR, Diego Delso (Wikipedia), Richard Bartz (Wikipedia), Maximilian Dörrbecker (Wikipedia), Pavel S (Unsplash)